Presently available technology exists for protecting troops from injury by land mines and other explosive devices placed on the ground. Certain mine protective devices utilize a dampening device to decouple troops in the interior, or inner structure, of the vehicle from transmission of the shock waves produced by an exploding mine or other exploding device. For example, German Document DE 19935573 A1 (hereafter, the German'573 Document) teaches a protective assembly for protecting occupants of a vehicle from the effects of exploding mines wherein the seats are provided with damping elements. In this case, each seat is connected to the vehicle structure by means of the damping elements so that a portion of the shock wave generated by an exploding mine is absorbed by the dampening elements. In this way, the magnitude of the portion of the shock wave that is still conducted through the seat is significantly reduced, and the amount of harm inflicted on the vehicle occupants is likewise reduced.
The protective assembly taught by DE 19935573 A1 (DE '573) is designed as a kit that can be potentially disposed underneath the vehicle, and that can be mounted on the vehicle as necessary. The protective assembly taught by the DE '573 is composed of profile supports comprising drive or running mechanism components, and a protection device connected to the profile supports and that is separate from the vehicle. In the region between the profile supports, the protection device is free of support and is disposed at a distance from the floor of the vehicle.
Other mine protection measures include supplemental armor. A mine protection assembly utilizing this kind of protection is described in DE 19734950 C2 (hereafter, DE '950). This mine protection assembly utilizes a particular layer construction, which comprises a first resin foam layer, a one-or-more-layered structural element plate, a resin foam layer, and a pressure resistant, bend-resistant, stiff plate.
An additional degree of mine blast protection can be achieved by constructing the floor of a vehicle in such a way that the energy of deformation produced by mine explosion can be absorbed without tearing the vehicle floor. Even the geometry of the vehicle undercarriage is often optimized for achieving shock wave protection from mine detonation. It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for providing mine blast protection that can be used separately, or in combination, with the mine protection assemblies known in the prior art.
It is an object of the present invention to prevent the transmission of a shock wave from an exploding mine into the drive work structure of a vehicle so as to prevent transmission of the shock wave throughout the entirety of the vehicle. Thus, the present invention endeavors to minimize applied damage to the vehicle from the exploding mine and from the mine protection device so that on-site repairs to the vehicle are still possible.